Close to buying a car sight unseen in California. Since a recent knee replacement surgery prevents me from driving or flying I'm going to have to do the entire deal from Chicago. What's the best way to get the seller paid and for me get the titlework? Tough to trust someone you never met.
In this day and age for me the issue isn't making the payment, its what happens next that is the risk. Most of us guys offshore from the USA find ourselves in this position a far bit. I have completed many purchases site unseen but a lot of checking has gone on before the purchase has been made. My preferred method of payment is Paypal because if there are any issues you have a method of recourse. When making payment by Paypal you can choose to pay the fees involved yourself so the buyer doesn't incur any themselves. Its a small cost to pay for peace of mind that gives you leverage if things turn bad. You could also ask someone here on the Hamb to assist, this place is full of very knowledgeable people willing to help, I would offer to cover there time fuel etc as nothing is for free and again you would have piece of mind. Good luck I hope it works out for you. Peter
Have whoever is picking up the car call you once the car has been looked at and title verified, then do a wire transfer.
A lot of us would be willing to take a run out a reasonable distance to inspect and photograph a rig for someone who can't get there on his/her own. I did it for a guy in Pa who was wanting to buy a truck that sat 20 miles from me. I took about 75 photos and made a video of it running and put it in an album on my Photobucket album and emailed him the link along with my thoughts on the truck. It was a pretty nice old 4x4 pickup with a six and 4 speed that had a fair to middling new paint job that would have been a real nice paint job with about eight hours of longboard work on the sides. Some of the local low budget body shops wouldn't recognize a longboard if it was laid up alongside their heads though as they think a DA sander is the only thing you sand a car with and turn paint chips into paint ripples. He bought the truck and sent me a gift card to take my wife out for dinner for our trouble. That was his gesture and not my request as we treated the afternoon as going for a ride.
There are inspection services which will send you a bunch of photos and you can talk to their guy who will take the car for a test drive, cheap insurance so you won't end up with a tub of crap. That's how I have done it a couple of times from the bottom of the planet. As for the payment , you can send it via Paypal as a gift.
If you send payment via PayPal as a gift. How do you file a complaint saying that the item wasn't as discribed or whatever? -Pat
I go with Mr48chev...Have one of us on the HAMB check it out for you and then pay with pay-pal only and pay the fee as it is cheap insurance if you have a problem.
Without someone reputable having his eyes on the car and the tittle I would not exchange any money. It would not be the first time I saw a title that looked real but was not real or have a problem associated with it. To me this is the hardest part of purchasing a car not the finding one for sale part. There have been horror stories about guys who purchased a car and had the tittle and even registered the car only to have someone knock at their door and inform them the car had been stolen a few years ago. I guess this is the Buyer Beware part of each sale. Jimbo
You cannot. If you send PP for goods or merchandise you are protected. If you send it "to friends or family" you have no recourse. Actually when I sell a small item to an overseas buyer and who is willing to assume the risk of loss or damage, I sometimes require him to make the payment "to friends or family" for that reason.
You are not protected by pay pal as others have stated, when you used send to friends and family option. I just bought a 51 shoebox from a pos seller in Maryland that said the car had a rusty solid frame and I specifically asked him about it and he said it was just surface rust and it was solid. Wrong! Got the car and there are over half a dozen holes and bad spots. He even welded the c notch for the rear end to the frame with the bottom rusted out. Ebay and pay pal do not acknowledge the sale. I will never buy sight unseen again. Lesson learned. Just be careful.
as for payment, bank transfer works too. you need to verify PayPal payment option yourself. someone must look at it and report to you what they see, with lots of pictures. a seller might forget to tell you that the car is not assembled, or only has three fenders, etc - don't laugh, this has happened.
Rule number one, if you can't see it, touch it or speak to the seller directly, do not buy it. I know I'm old school, but.....I don't get ripped off or lied to, I may waste fuel driving sometimes, but recently, after talking to the seller after driving five hours to see him, came home with out the car. He seemed shifty and the gut said this wasn't good, so, no sale. Look hard where you can see it for yourself.
I bought my '59 Ford this past July, out of state, sight unseen. Which is something I'd never recommend to anyone. But at the worst, I figured I could part it out to recoup some of my loss and chalk it up to a lesson in life. The auction had a lot of pictures and I had a good feeling about it. I wired the funds from my bank to the seller's, he mailed me the title right away. The car wound up being as good as advertised and I'm happy with it.
trollst X2. I almost bought a car sight unseen once but came to my senses and drove 5 hours to see it. It was an absolute POS. It would have been a huge mistake as the seller totally misrepresented the car. Two things I learned was NEVER buy anything sight unseen and never drive any long distance to look at a car. If I can't see a car locally or at a car show that I'm at I don't need it. Gary
This reminds me of the words my driving instructor said to me when I first got into the car when I was 17 back in the UK... "if you imagine that the ONLY reason the other cars are on the road is to hit you, you will be fine". I similarly assume the same about sellers/buyers...sounds cynical I know but we live in a bad world. I avoid PayPal on major sales and will NEVER send as friend/family when buying for two reasons; first, you have ZERO recourse in the event the product is defective and second, PayPal can cancel your account if they detect it being used improperly. I try to use bank transfers on major purchases when selling but even then am wary unless it comes from a reputable US bank. You get a wire from the Bank of Nairobi and I can tell you now that you still run a risk of it being reversed 4 weeks later. Ditto for bank orders...
I bought a car from a guy in New Jersey last year. He stated that it had a clean title, original miles and original paint. None of which was true. The guy lied through his teeth. I even talked to him on the phone and thought he sounded legit. The title said rebuilt salvage, flood car and not original mileage. The odometer was even stuck! The rear end was full of water and froze so the car wouldn't move! The booster and master cylinder had water in them and the pedal was completely stuck. I can't believe the car even made it on the trailer. Because I did not buy through ebay, I was basically screwed. My lawyer sent a nastygram to him and I got a few grand back but it's a far cry from what I had to put into it. I lost several thousand dollars on that thing making it safe and roadworthy. I didn't get enough info or pictures and I should have had someone go look at it. Now, on the flipside, I recently purchased a car from a HAMB Alliance member and was totally pleased with it. It restored some of my faith in humanity! If this guy is not a HAMB member and you know nothing about him, Definitely get someone to go look at it before sending the loot. When you feel comfortable that the car is worth it, a bank wire transfer works well.
Many have said it--if you can't see it your self and go over it--forget it unless you know someone real well with knowledge who can look at it for you. A friend wanted to buy a car that looked really great in pics and the seller seemed straight as well. He was going to wire money to hold it then go get it. I talked him out of that so we drove 400 miles one way with my pickup and a trailer to go look and get it. It was junk !!! So we came home with an empty trailer but saved his $$ He felt really bad about it-told him trailer had to come back full or empty. Found him what he wanted within 5 miles of here-better car and less money. I f I can't see the car myself-I pass.
I gotta pipe in on a good sight unseen sale thru ebay. I bought a 40 ford sedan from Butch, a guy in S Carolina, after it didn't meet the reserve. I'm in Nebraska. He took my 69 ElCamino in trade. trailered them to meet in St Louis. 1 hour west of St Louis my brothers new suburban broke down on a Saturday at 400pm. when Butch met me at the truck stop we limped to & I explained what happened, he offered to put my brothers truck on his trailer and take us back to Omaha. I could drive the 40 back following him & he would leave the ElCamino at the truck stop and pick it up on his way back to Carolina. I should have taken him up on the offer as my brother was stuck there til thursday and I drove the 40 home sunday. we each got a good deal, each had a little more rust than the other anticipated but overall it was a good solid purchase with good titles.
I've bought several cars this way amd sometimes you got to take a little chance. I also told them that my wife worked internet fraud with the FBI and if this car wasn't all they said someone would be wanting to talk to them.lol. Never a problem. Several times I was lucky to have a friend or family member bear bye to at least take a look and see if the vechicle even existed. One guy took photos of floorpans/vintags/title next to vin. Sometime you got to take a chance. Although a friend of mine use to ship cars for people and man some people would freek out and tell him don't even think of unloading that pos in my driveway. Of couse they didn't want to pay for the ride back to where the car came from. Got real ugly at times. YRUHOT.............Doug
the seller already knows your laid up so if he is out to screw you your the perfect mark! i trust nobody! i had a woman try to burn a guy i knew and he was ready to send very substantial deposit until he listened to the recorded phone call i had with seller. turns out the legal owner was out of country and ex wife had copy of title she forged signature on, car would have been out of usa before anyone noticed!
Where did you find the car ? Here on the HAMB ? If so - invest in a HAMB Alliance membership - have the Seller do the same. I have been a HAMB Alliance member every consecutive year for seven years. If not - you can get an inspection from an independent professional sevice that has no vested interest in the sale of the car - you have to pay for that. Or - you can have a HAMB member nearby check it out for you ..... If you are satisfied it is what you want - payment is done today in most deals by bank wire transfer - safely & securely. Once you wire the money - the Seller sends you the title/pink slip by overnight express mail or the equivalent. Never send the title with the car - then the shipper has both the title and the vehicle - both can disappear. Even though I recommend this - it is not uncommon for me to haul a high dollar vehicle with an open title - like this fully restored 1958 Corvette I just brought from Corona, CA to Milo, IA last week .... Jim
Thanks guys for all of the tips! I couldn't put a deal together on this car, we couldn't agree on a price, but my instinct said not to do it even if we did.
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